Games+and+Simulations


 * Bonus page: No assignments associated with this topic at the moment.**

Games and simulations are FANTASTIC ways to engage students. They are also learning objects. Are you a gamer? I'm not, but many are. Below are a few resources related to games and simulations you might explore. Find games and simulations to use in your classroom. Create a resource list of them telling a bit about each and how you might use them in your classroom. Categorize them to cluster like topics together. Be ready for that job interview!

> > > > > > > @http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/06/15/03science.h04.html > > @http://phet.colorado.edu/ > > @http://thejournal.com/articles/2011/08/11/new-free-online-game-lets-students-run-a-county.aspx > > > > > > > > >
 * A few resources to pique your interest:**
 * 1) How Games Teach
 * 2) 10 Specific Ideas To Gamify Your Classroom
 * 3) Gamestar Mechanic -- Gamestar teachers facilitate kids playing, designing and sharing digital games. Try out the Teachers' Quest to experience first-hand what you can teach with Gamestar. For a guide on how to navigate Gamestar and 5 introductory lessons, download the Intro Guide. View Sample Lessons from teachers to see how they use Gamestar to teach game design & core subjects.
 * 1) Quandary -- a game to teach empathy in students
 * 1) Money, Time, and Tactics: Can Games Be Effective in Schools?
 * 1) [|Play the Election] -- A collaborative, digital teaching tool for the 2012 Presidential Election. Let the games begin!
 * 1) Article -- Video Games Boost Brain Power, Multitasking Skills
 * 1) Don't Play It, Make It.  How schools are using game-creation technology to teach critical skills -- More schools are teaching students important skills by allowing them to create digital games. The online game-creation platform Gamestar Mechanic, which is designed to build curriculum-aligned skills, is now being used in 800 schools as a learning tool. "When students make a game they have to model the system and have a deeper mastery of the subject. It's a deeper learning experience," said Alan Gershenfeld, president of E-Line Media, the developer of Gamestar Mechanic. "The process also incorporates 21st century skills -- game design requires that." T.H.E. Journal
 * 1) Programming Digital Fun Into Science Education -- In //Education Week//, EDC's Cornelia Brunner describes efforts to create and use video games that teach students about science.
 * 1) Interactive Science Simulations --Fun, interactive, research-based simulations of physical phenomena from the PhET project at the University of Colorado.
 * 1) New Free Online Game Lets Students Run a County
 * 1) **Exercise and Learn Simultaneously with Free Multimedia Resource** -- Elementary students move their bodies and learn curriculum at the same time in a popular, on-line, multimedia series now available at no charge to schools. In one "Adventure to Fitness," students in the classroom play the ancient Mayan ball-game with Mr. Marc, the human who hosts the otherwise animated adventures. At Mr. Marc's urging, the kids run in place and use their hips to hit an imaginary ball (well, technically, the ball has been replaced by Mr. Marc's sidekick, "Mr. Clock"). Other adventures will find students running and "climbing a tree" in Yellowstone National Park, pumping a handcar to catch some Wild West thieves who took gold from the transcontinental railroad, or exploring ancient Greece. Now fully funded, the weekly adventures are free to schools. Educators just have to create an account at www.adventuretofitness.tv. Schools in Wisconsin were among the first to use Adventure to Fitness. The creators approached the DPI after hearing of the state's good work with other exercise projects. More than two hundred Wisconsin elementary schools have already signed up. DPI Health and Physical Education Consultant Jon Hisgen says, "This is a great opportunity for schools to work physical activity into the curriculum while simultaneously supporting learning in other disciplines." (from DPI-ConnectEd)
 * 1) Do you need interactive tutorials and quizzes on human anatomy and physiology? This site, created by a retired college anatomy and physiology teacher, demonstrates the major body systems including the skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, and urinary systems. Click on a system and then explore each individual part via tutorial and pictures.
 * 1) Get Your Game On: How to Build Curriculum Units Using the Video Game Model
 * 1) **Benefits of student gaming go beyond the classroom** -- There is new evidence that gaming can be used in science learning and in scientific discovery, writes Audrey Watters. The online biochemistry game Fold.it has been played by 100,000 people since it launched and helped lead to a major finding in AIDS research. The game Refraction helps students learn about fractions through puzzles. Scientists also are using data from the game to determine how students learn. Edutopia.org/Audrey Watters' blog
 * 1) Use Game-Based Learning to Teach Civics >
 * 1) 40 Sites for Educational Games -- Beware, are these really educational games? Do they teach creative and critical thinking? Are they engaging? Or, are they just time fillers? Not all websites advertised as educational games are created equal. Select thoughtfully!
 * 1) Ideas for using video games in STEM lessons Professionals who work in science, technology, engineering and math often work in programming, so educator Shawn Cornally writes in this blog post that he incorporates games in his classroom as a segue into programming. Cornally offers lesson suggestions for two popular games, Mindcraft and Portal 2, as well as ideas for teaching students to write their own computer code. For example, Cornally writes, he has his students figure out if the actions in Portal 2 violate the laws of physics. Edutopia.org/Shawn Cornally's blog
 * 1) Persuasive Games has a diverse portfolio of successful videogames. These games are designed for advertisers, public policy makers, corporate trainers, educators, news organizations—as well as ordinary people. (it looks like these games might cost money)
 * 1) Practice Grammar with Technology -- a variety of games
 * 2) Coral Reef Interactive
 * 3) SpaceChem -- Take on the role of a Reactor Engineer working for SpaceChem, the leading chemical synthesizer for frontier colonies. Construct elaborate factories to transform raw materials into valuable chemical products! Streamline your designs to meet production quotas and survive encounters with the sinister threats that plague SpaceChem.
 * 4) Quandary -- games to develop ethical decision making skills
 * 5) Fantasy Geopolitics